An attractive looking hairstyle is today regarded in general as an indispensable part of a well-groomed appearance. Because of current fashion trends, the hairstyles that are considered to be chic are repeatedly those that, with many types of hair, can be created and/or maintained for a longer period of up to several days only by using hair setting agents. Therefore, hair treatment agents that provide permanent or temporary shaping of hair play an important role. In permanent shaping, the chemical structure of the keratin-containing fibers is modified by oxidation and reduction, but such modifications of the temporary structure do not take place in temporary shaping. Corresponding agents for temporary shaping usually contain synthetic polymers and/or waxes as the hair setting ingredient.
The most important property of an agent for temporary shaping of keratinic fibers, hereinafter also referred to as styling agents, consists of imparting the strongest possible hold to the treated fibers in the shaped form, i.e., a form imposed upon the fibers. If the keratinic fibers are human hair, we also speak of a strong hairstyle hold or a high degree of hold of the styling agent. The hairstyle hold is determined essentially by the type and amount of styling active ingredients used, but there may also be an influence of the additional ingredients of the styling agent as well as the form of application.
In addition to a high degree of hold, styling agents must meet a number of other requirements. These may be subdivided roughly into properties involving the hair, properties involving the respective formulation. e.g., the sprayed aerosol or non-aerosol, and properties relating to the handling of the styling agent, but the properties involving the hair are particularly important. Properties that can be mentioned here include in particular a moisture resistance, a low stickiness and a balanced conditioning effect. Furthermore, a styling agent should be universally applicable for all types of hair and should be mild on hair and skin.
To do justice to the various requirements, a variety of synthetic polymers, which are used as hair setting agents in styling agents have been developed in the state of the art. These polymers can be subdivided into cationic, anionic, nonionic and amphoteric hair setting polymers. When applied to hair, these polymers ideally form a polymer film, which, on the one hand, imparts a strong hold to the hair style, but, on the other hand, is flexible enough not to break under stress. If the polymer film is fragile, then the result is the formation of so-called film flakes and residues, which become detached from the hair with movement and give the impression that the user of the respective styling agent has dandruff
The polymer films that can be obtained with the synthetic polymers and polymer combinations known in the state of the art have a satisfactory hold, but the hold thereby achieved for the hairstyle suffers drastically in a humid environment. In a humid environment, however, this deteriorating hold will not meet the user's demand for a uniformly strong, long-term hold regardless of external weather factors. Therefore, there is a need for improving the moisture resistance of polymer films that can be obtained by using polymers and polymer combinations but without a negative influence on the other properties of cosmetic agents mentioned above, in particular styling agents.